Compared: 2023 Audi Q7 vs. 2023 BMW X7

Performance isn't cheap, especially when it's from Germany.

Beth Nichols | 

Jan 17, 2024 | 3 min read

Audi | BMW

When it comes to their seven-seat midsize SUVs — and, frankly, every other vehicle in their lineups — Audi and BMW offer much of the same. The 2023 Audi Q7 leads the way in price, but the 2023 BMW X7 seeks to gain consumers' favor with more power and goodies. Please note: BMW also sells a 612-hp Alpina version of the X7, but we've excluded it in this comparison.

BMW

2023 Audi Q7 Offers the Less Expensive Way Into Three-Row German Luxury

The BMW X7 comes in two forms: xDrive40i and M60i. The former uses a 375-hp turbocharged inline-six, while the latter ups the ante to 523 ponies with a twin-turbo V8. Neither is cheap. The core model starts around $79,000, but that's nothing compared with the M-badged X7's outlay. You'll need about $104,000 to take one of those home.

The Q7 is far more reasonable, with a base price in the $60,000 ballpark. Granted, that's for the 45 model with a 261-hp turbocharged four-cylinder under the hood. The more comparable choice to BMW's entry X7 is the Q7 55, which features a 335-hp turbo V6. It opens around $64,000 — still some $15,000 less than the Bimmer. Audi also sells the high-performance SQ7 to compete against the M60i. It rocks a 500-hp twin-turbo V8 and, at approximately $92,000 to start, undercuts the M model by roughly 12 grand.

BMW

The BMW X7's Higher Price Reflects in Its More Abundant Standard Features

Both vehicles come with the usual luxury fare, including heated front seats, smartphone mirroring, a massive digital gauge cluster, and a suite of driver-assistance features. Audi provides leather upholstery on its base Q7, while BMW eschews tradition by opting for a vegan surface material called Sensafin.

Apart from that, the entry X7 has more amenities than the Q7 base model. Adaptive cruise control, four-zone climate control, and remote start all come standard, for instance, whereas Audi reserves adaptive cruise for higher trim levels, has one fewer HVAC zone, and doesn't offer remote start.

Audi

Audi Q7 and BMW X7 Offer Lots of Interior Space but Limited Storage Behind their Third Rows

Buyers can also spec the Bimmer with captain's chairs for the second row, lowering the seat count from seven to six. Otherwise, the two aren't so different in terms of interior space. The Q7 has 14.2 cubic-feet of cargo space behind the third row expandable to 69.6 cu-ft with the second and third rows folded. The X7 provides more space with a maximum cargo capacity of 90.4 cu-ft, but behind the third row, at 12.8 cu-ft, it's a little more cramped back there than in the Audi.

Audi

2023 BMW X7's Fuel Economy Is Good Enough to Write Home About

Premium fuel is a given for these luxury SUVs. According to the EPA the four-cylinder Q7 will see 19/25/21 mpg city/highway/combined while the six-cylinder ute manages 18/22/20 mpg. The snarling SQ7 is not bashful with its 14/20/17-mpg fuel consumption.

The six-cylinder X7 is actually more miserly on gasoline than the four-cylinder Q7. The EPA says the X7 xDrive40i is good for 21/25/22 mpg. The X7 M60i returns an EPA-estimated 16/21/18 mpg. Not only is that relatively efficient for a V8-powered SUV, but those numbers also best the SQ7.

All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication), and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.

Beth Nichols

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Beth Nichols stumbled into automotive journalism and found her footing, jumping between a few car magazines before going freelance. Her head, once full of useless facts about literature and art history, now holds useless facts about vehicles. She edits, checks, and occasionally creates content for Capital One, and though she understands it’s customary to write a bio in the third person, I don’t like it.